Site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party

This guide to the Site of the First National Congress in Shanghai's French Concession returns to late July 1921, when thirteen delegates from scattered communist study groups, plus two advisers from Moscow, gathered in a plain grey brick parlor to found a party. Among them sat an unknown young librarian from Hunan named Mao Zedong. Partway through, a stranger in a long gown steps into the room, glances around, and mutters an excuse before leaving. The preserved basement below is kept so carefully that cameras still aren't allowed inside it.